Angkor Wat

If there's ever a border crossing to worry about, it's at the Thailand-Cambodia border. It's not necessarily dangerous, but there is a constant stream of people trying to scam you, starting in Bangkok all the way to Siem Reap in Cambodia. They almost got us on the Thailand side of the border at the "Cambodian Consulate," but once they asked to hold our passports we got out of there. They wanted to charge you to fill out some useless forms and drive you around to get useless stamps. They did get us, unfortunately, once we crossed into Cambodia. We were talked into the "free shuttle to the bus station," which took us to a big terminal about 5 miles from anywhere, at which point we had no choice but to pay an inflated price to what is quite literally a taxicab/bus mafia. They have a monopoly in the area and apparently pay off police to help enforce this monopoly. To make matters worse, we only had Thai money and their exchange rate was at least 40% worse than it should be. It turned out okay though, as an Irish girl gave us dollars (they use US money here) for the normal exchange rate. Despite the mandatory pit-stop at a tourist restaurant and a ridiculously expensive tuk-tuk ride once we got to Siem Reap, we were just happy to arrive after 24 hours straight traveling from Chiang Mai. Out hotel here, Hotel 89, is awesome. For $20 a night we get a queen bed, fridge, AC, TV, daily cleaning and turndown service, full breakfast, plus the staff is super friendly and the best part - they bring us a different Cambodian bedtime story to read every night! They are some of the strangest stories you'll ever read and don't really help you fall asleep, but they are hilarious.

Since we had loved seeing sunrise so much at Machu Picchu, we arranged for a tuk-tuk driver to pick us up at 4:30 the following morning so we could give Angkor Wat the same shot. While we didn't get the same misty clouds and solitude, sunrise was beautiful. We didn't really beat the crowds so much, but at least we beat the heat. Angkor Wat is in the middle of the jungle and it is crazy humid here.

the crowds lined up for sunrise

Angkor Wat is the most famous and popular temple in the massive Angkor Archaeological Park, over 400 square kilometers of jungle, rice fields, temples, and even the largest pre-industrial age city in the world. I'm not sure how these "lost cities" we've been visiting could ever really be lost, considering their magnitude, importance, and beauty, but Angkor Wat is yet another lost city. It was build in the 12th century AD, making it relatively new by the standards we've set on this trip. Originally it was a Hindu temple, as that was the state religion at the time, but once a new, Buddhist king came into power everything, including Angkor Wat and all the people of the kingdom, converted to Buddhism. From the late 16th century, all of the Angkor temples were essentially abandoned and left to the jungle. Angkor Wat is surrounded by a huge moat, which held back the encroaching jungle and thus left it so well preserved. It was "re-discovered" by a French explorer in the mid 1800's.

For about $10-15 a day depending on your negotiating skills, you can hire a tuk-tuk driver to take you out to the temples, wait around while you explore, drive from site to site and eventually back again. I don't know how they make any money, though I think the average Cambodian's salary is in the neighborhood of $30-60 per month, so a dollar or two profit per day would be pretty good for them. After exploring Angkor Wat, our driver took us to that pre-industrial age city that I mentioned early - Angkor Thom. It's mostly covered in jungle now, but back in its heyday more than a million people lived here. The first stop was the temple of Bayon, which is notable because of it's 54 towers that each have four giant stone faces carved in them. A favorite among tourists and we were no different - those things are cool!

Can you spot the faces?

That should be easier

There's tons of temples and monuments inside Angkor Thom and along the "little circuit" (the short loop) of the Park, so we just hit the highlights. We walked along the Terrace of the Elephants, climbed to the top of Ta Keo, and climbed over and under trees that were intertwined with the ruins at Ta Prohm.

statues on the Terrace of the Elephants

View from top of Ta Keo

the trees grow on top of the ruins at Ta Prohm

So cool!

They filmed some scenes for Tomb Raider in Ta Prohm

What an amazing place! It was only about noon by that point, but we'd seen enough ruins for one day (especially after travelling 24 hours the day before and getting up at 4AM). We needed to get some rest because the next day we were going to see the park as the Cambodians see it - by bicycle!